Enterprising Internships: Small business, big impact

Available exclusively to undergraduates and postgraduates at University of Birmingham, an Enterprising Internship is your chance to:

Apply knowledge from your studies to an innovative local start-up or social enterprise

Develop enterprising skills whilst getting paid

Make a huge impact in a small company

Experience the excitement of working in a start-up or social enterprise

Explore our two bespoke internship schemes below.

Start-up internships

Are you interested in developing enterprising skills? Do you want to work in a small organisation and make a huge impact? Or perhaps you have your own start-up aspirations and want to gain insight and contribute to another start-up?

Social enterprise internships

These unique internshops allows students to develop enterprising skills and undertake a paid internship with a local social enterprise.

The social enterprise internships scheme is open to all students at The University of Birmingham on an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. The internships take place over the summer vacation period and last for 20 working days. The majority of opportunities are based in and around Birmingham.

Successful applicants will receive a bursary of £1,000 on completion of their internship.

The deadline for all opportunities is Sunday 4 March 2018.

Whilst students can apply to more than one internship opportunity, students are only permitted to accept to undertake ONE internship as part of the programme. Therefore careful consideration should be made, in terms of which internship opportunity(s) seem of most relevance and interest for you to apply to.

Social enterprise internships give students the chance to develop important entrepreneurial skills which are key to working in any forward thinking business. We offer:

A bespoke one day training course on developing enterprising skills (to be held in June 2018)

An exclusive one month paid internship with a local social enterprise

Supported reflection on skills development

What are enterprising skills and why are they important?

Being able to recognise and demonstrate enterprising skills can make you stand out from others in the competitive graduate job market.

Creative problem solving

Adaptability and resilience

Commercial awareness

Taking initiative

Networking

Identifying new opportunities

Being able to demonstrate these skills can be important when applying for graduate roles. The Enterprising Internships programme aims to give you the chance to develop these skills and put them to use in a business situation.

What is a social enterprise?

A social enterprise is a profit making business but they reinvest at least half of profits into making a difference to society. Unlike a charity, they do not rely on grants but are self-sustainable.

Some examples of social enterprises you might have heard of include:

Divine Chocolate

The Eden Project

Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant

The Big Issue

Gandys flip flops

There are many great reasons to work for a social enterprise and our Enterprising Internships programme allows students to develop skills needed for the commercial business world, whilst also making a difference to the local community.